In the complicated world of “climate finance,” the Just Energy Transition Partnerships (JETPs) have been presented as the best thing since beluga caviar. The designers and advocates of the JETPs say that they represent a “new financing paradigm,” and “a template on how to support just transition around the world.”

It all started (ostensibly) at the United Nations (UN) climate talks (COP26) in Glasgow in November 2021, when the first JETP between rich countries (represented by “International Partners Group,” or IPG) and South Africa was unveiled. Six months later, in June 2022, G7 leaders stated that more JETPs were in the pipeline, involving Indonesia and Vietnam. In November 2022, Egypt joined the JETP group, and Senegal signed on in June 2023. JETPs involving Côte d’Ivoire, Colombia, India, Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria, Thailand, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, and the Philippines are apparently under discussion.

In each instance, the goal of the JETP is to “mobilize” finance in the form of both concessional and commercial loans (explained below) to help Global South countries either move away from coal and/or accelerate the deployment of renewable energy in ways that are socially just. For some, the finance committed under the first JETPs — $8.5 billion to South Africa, $15.5 billion to Vietnam, and $20 billion to Indonesia — indicates that rich countries are, after years of vague promises, finally beginning to meet their obligation under the UN’s Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to “provide financial resources to assist developing country Parties in implementing the objectives of the UNFCCC.”